Magic of the Stars
by FiresFromOurHearts
Summary: A Sci-fi fantasy story, wherein Harry, Hermione, and Ron return to Hogwarts to prepare for the final encounter with Riddle and his fleet.


_**This is written for Assignment #9 Arts & Crafts: Artists in the Arts & Crafts Movement. I chose Task #1: Write a fic in the Fantasy genre. This was written for the forum Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (Challenges and Assignments). **_

_**I'm not entirely sure whether this manages to fit the prompt, but I tried weaving fantasy and sci-fi together. My issue was, technically, Harry Potter is already fantasy because magic. Anyway, I was hoping to expand on this some more (with bits of Voldemort's soul being made into an AI that's been placed in different ships-with the last, and unknown one, being on **_**The Boy Who Lived****_, a ship that's been in the Potter family for decades (and where Voldemort killed Harry's parents). _**

**_My tenses may be all over the place with this, simply because half of it was present tense and half of it was past tense and 100% of it was a mess._**

* * *

Ron jerked awake to the sound of sirens. Not even bothering to get changed, he grabbed his wand from the table beside him and quickly left the small room into the hallway. Red lights were flashing around him and he hurried toward the command room of the craft. Harry's already there, which was unsurprising since he was on captain duty, Hermione is there which was somewhat surprising since she usually dealt with whatever the problem was. After all, she's the lead engineer of _The Golden Trio_.

Well, Ron thought lead engineer like such a thing was impressive, but when there was only the three of them on the spaceship, it probably wasn't. It's not like Ron or Harry could act as engineers—Hermione's the one who could make something happen from nothing and work mechanical magic to keep the ship going so they didn't die.

"What's the problem?" Ron asked, stepping up to stand next to Harry and Hermione to look down at the holographic on the table in front of them.

"_Voldemort_ is making a move," Harry said frowning. "We've got a distress call from _Hogwarts_. We think it was Neville managing to get around the Death Eaters controlling the ship. Apparently, the entire fleet's gunning for _Hogwarts_. Which was where we were heading originally."

"Maybe Riddle's finally realised that the other Horcruxes have been destroyed?" Ron replied, withholding a shiver. Horcruxes were horrifying things, magic and technology combined to form an AI that wasn't software but actually part of someone's soul; it was atrocious and it was wrong and Ron hated dealing with them. But Harry was the kid out of the prophecy and neither Ron or Hermione could let him go alone to deal with all of this.

"Probably," Hermione admitted with a frown. "We haven't really been trying to hide it from him. Do we have a way to get to _Hogwarts_ without _Voldemort_ and the rest of the fleet spotting us?"

Ron thought. _Hogwarts_ was currently stationed in its school-term position meaning it's in the Hogsmeade sector. "Is _The Boy Who Lived_ still hidden in the Hogsmeade sector, Harry?"

Harry nodded. "Yeah, hidden on the Forbidden Forest planet."

"Well, we can probably manage to get to Hogsmeade undetected and then take it up to _Hogwarts_ docking on the Gryffindor floor. If we can get a message to Neville, he can start a mutiny to help us. Hermione, where's our allies currently?" Ron said, turning to look at their engineer.

"_The Order of the Phoenix_ is within light range. I'm sending them a message now," Hermione said.

A screen nearby buzzed, cutting Ron off from what he had been planning to say next. "It's _Hogwarts_," Harry said, glancing at them with wide-eyes. "Should I answer?"

Ron nodded, hand gripping his wand tighter—not that magic would be able to do anything from this distance, but the comfort was there regardless.

A holographic was projected from the screen—but it's not Riddle or any Death Eater instead-

"Professor McGonagall!" The three said, grinning in relief.

The teacher peered at them from behind her glasses. "Harry, Hermione, Ron," she greeted. "_Hogwarts_ is under our control with the battleships in our bays getting ready. Riddle has landed on Forbidden Forest and has set up his base there with his ship _Dark Lord_. _Voldemort_ appears to be preparing to launch at us. Are you nearby? Of course, this is assuming that this is our final battle."

"We are," Harry confirmed. "We've just entered the sector; you should be seeing us soon. Please don't shoot us down."

"Merlin, we wouldn't want that," Professor McGonagall said. She looked at someone out of the camera's view. "Oh, it looks like the battle preparations are starting. I'll see you three soon, I hope." The hologram flickered and died.

"Battle preparations?" Harry echoed. "What defences does _Hogwarts_ have aside from her battle ships?"

"Merlin's beard," Ron swore, gazing out the front of their ship to see _Hogwarts_ in all of her glory. Harry and Hermione both looked where he's looking to see the massive spaceship in front of them.

_Hogwarts_ had always been amazing, the oldest example of how magic and technology could be combined, with her sides decorated with runes that usually glowed dimly, with the colour of the house that won the house cup the previous year. Additionally, her sides had the appearance of scales and her front was styled like a dragon's face.

Now, though, now _Hogwarts_ had taken another step. The dragon face, usually with closed eyes, was looking around with opened eyes and fire was curling at the corners of her mouth. And it wasn't technology, those on _The Golden Trio_ could see that. It was magic. The dragon even had a mouth that could open and close and was doing so, with flames flickering around its teeth. But that wasn't the only change that _Hogwarts_ was undergoing in response to the threat. Before their very eyes, the three watched as the sides of the massive ship peeled away, metallic scales falling away and grouping together to form dragons made of metal fuelled by the runes that decorated them. What they left behind were weapons of both magic and technology. And was why _Hogwarts_ was claimed to be the best ship fused of technology and magic.

_The Golden Trio_ approached the massive ship cautiously, but nothing happened, even as the metal dragons and a few battle ships slipped around them to form an escort. When they're close to docking, a golden shield shimmered over their head and settled around _Hogwarts_ with a hundred metres spare all around the ship.

Harry's the first off of the ship, leaping to land on _Hogwarts_ with a wide grin. There's already a crowd gathering around them with Neville at the forefront. And even though they're all alive and laughing and smiling, they're still in a war. There was still a fight coming.

And so Harry stepped away from the hugs and the laughter and the smiles and said, "I need your help."

And they all listened.


End file.
